Findings from a study into ‘professional love’ in early years settings reveal that most practitioners have a very positive attitude towards the role of professional love and are comfortable hugging and kissing children in their care to build security and attachment.
However, some are concerned about whether parents will understand their actions and how they will respond.
The aim of the study, led by Dr Jools Page from the University of Sheffield, was to investigate the views of early years professionals on the place of love in the curriculum, as well as determine how appropriate loving relationships with young children in settings manifest themselves.
The views of practitioners were gathered from an anonymous online survey of 793 early years staff, including early years teachers, teaching assistants, consultants, lecturers and childminders, along with face-to-face interviews with ten respondents.
Of those that took part in the survey, 95 per cent said they feel showing affection to the children in their care is an important part of early years practice. Many said it is inevitable that you will form a bond with the children you work with and they will form a bond with you. Close to 90 per cent felt they had a good knowledge of non-statutory safeguarding guidance and advice relevant to their post.
In response to a child saying ‘I love you’, nearly half (47 per cent) claimed they would say the same back. A further 15 per cent said they would use a non-reciprocal acknowledgment, such as ‘That’s nice’ or ‘Lovely’. Other respondents would respond with a diversion phrase involving love, explain or explore other relationships/loves with a child or say that they are part of a ‘collective loving setting’. Just 1 per cent said they would give a non-verbal response, such as a smile or hug.
DESCRIBING ‘PROFESSIONAL LOVE’
When asked to describe what they understood by the term professional love, practitioners chose quite broad definitions, often using words such as ‘care’ and ‘kindness’, or being ‘available’ and ‘paying attention to the children’. Some focused on how the child should feel in a professionally loving environment, for example ‘safe’, ‘settled’, ‘secure’ or ‘valued’.
The role of physical contact such as hugging and kissing was present in a number of definitions, as was the importance of establishing some form of attachment with the children.
One practitioner said, ‘We have always felt strongly at my setting that it was more damaging to deny young children affection such as cuddles, but I was aware that many other settings do not think this way.
‘There are settings out there that still have "no cuddling" policies. This just seems inhumane to me if you are working with young children, especially with all the research becoming available on the importance of affection in healthy brain development.’
There was some disagreement when relating professional love to parental love. Some practitioners felt that professional love should be parental in nature, for example loving a child as if it is your own, while others did not.
The survey findings also indicate a strong relationship between respondents’ beliefs about their own practices and what they believe parents would want for their children.
CONCERNS
Despite the largely positive attitude of respondents, some expressed worries about aspects of their work, with ten per cent reporting concerns about false accusations being made and how others view the appropriateness of their actions. Some described practitioners as being ‘vulnerable’.
About one in five claimed that they would avoid being alone with a child. Reasons for concerns included fears that parents would feel threatened, jealous or uncomfortable about early years staff developing a relationship with their children. This was a more common concern for childminders than those working in other settings. Other respondents thought parents might not recognise or understand children’s love or attachment needs, and question or misinterpret practitioners’ activities.
To allay parents’ fears, ten per cent of respondents expressed the importance of communicating and building good relationships with mothers and fathers.
In contrast, just over half (56 per cent) said they were not concerned about parents’ attitudes towards professional love practices because they feel they are acting in line with what parents want for their children.
A slightly higher proportion of practitioners that work with the under-twos than those working with older children tend to feel that parents approve of them kissing their child.
Several respondents specifically mentioned occasions when parents have expressed worries about men working with their children. However, the majority of men who took part in the survey (4 per cent of all respondents) reported a generally positive attitude towards professional love practices in early years. Four of the male practitioners felt that parents viewed them differently to female staff.
The findings from the research have been used to develop a free Attachment Toolkit for early years practitioners (see box).
Dr Page said, ‘As this project has demonstrated, it is the debate and theorisation of love and care that is important. Providing opportunities for practitioners to discuss and reflect on each other’s viewpoints is likely to bring about a more thoughtful understanding and crucially a shift in their thinking.’
She added, ‘We want settings to evaluate their use of the professional development materials and to provide us with feedback so that we can continue to develop the toolkit.’
Nearly all practitioners felt that showing affection for the children in their care was important
ATTACHMENT TOOLKIT
The new toolkit, made up of a set of professional development materials, aims to help practitioners to feel more confident about their professional decisions in relation to love, care and intimacy, and how to determine the appropriateness of professional love in the context of their attachment relationships with babies and children in their care.
Designed to complement early years safeguarding policies and procedures, the Attachment Toolkit includes case studies, narratives and video, which has been trialled and evaluated by nursery group Fennies.
- Download the toolkit here
